Signments



UNITED STAT S PATENT 'OFFICE.

WILLIAM BAXTER, JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO THE HYDROD YNAMIO TRANSMITTER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, n; Y.

APPARATUS'FOR DRAINING MINES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 269,167, dated December 19, 1882.

Application filed January 12, 1882. (No model.)

tain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Draining Mines, fully described and represented in the following specification and I the accompanying drawings,forn1ing a part of the same.'

My invention consists in the improved apparatus or combinations of mechanism herein set forth for draining mines, the same being applicable in many cases where water is to be 1 raised from springs, wells, quarries, or locations other than mines where it may be difficult to transmit steam thereto.

My invention is an improvement upon the methods heretofore devised to use a. balanced column of water for operating a motor, and

. furnishes a means of avoiding synchronous movements in different parts of the apparatus by passing the moving fluid entirely through the motor and returning it to the top of the 2 5 operating-column, where it is received in a tank, and drawn thence to be used over again.

The use of such a receiving-tank avoids the employment of pass-over valves and priming devices, which have been required in other con- 5o Structions. V 7

My invention also includes a special form of combined motor and pump, which consists in a three-cylinder rotary device so constructed as to have the pressures upon its axis entirely 3 5 balanced. This deviceIterm a transmitter, and, as its affords the most efficient means of carrying out my method, my invention will first be described'in connection therewith.

To illustrate the action of the apparatus herein described, I will suppose a rotary motor and pump placed in the bottom of a mine and a rotary pump and tank located outside themine. Therotarypump would be arranged to draw water from the tank and would be propelled by any kind of power. The inlet and outlet of the rotary motor in the mine would be provided each with a pipe leading to the level of the pump outside, and when filled with water it is obvious that the pressures in such 50 pipes would be balanced, and that if one were connected with the discharge from theupper pump the rotary motor would be propelled and the water used would be discharged from the other pipe, by which it could be led to the receiving-tank near the upper pump. Such an 5 5 operation could be continued as long as power was applied to the upper pump, and any loss of water from leakage could be made up by filling the tank from any source. The motor in the mine would of course exert the power applied to the upper pump, less the friction in the mechanism, and such power would be available for operating any drainage-pump connected therewith. The water from such drainage could be also led to the receiving-tank, and an overflow provided to dispose of it thereafter. As a rotary motor can be constructed without any dead-points, it would be ready to start whenever movement and pressure were produced in the inlet-fluid, and, as the flow 0f such fluid would be uninterrupted by the structure of the rotary device, it could be led from one rotary motor to another, and propel any number thereof serially, provided the original pressure-pump exerted sufficient force to overcome their combined resistances. By such a method and construction I am enabled to sev cure many advantages not attainable by the i use of steam boilers and engines located in the mines or located upon the surface of the mine and operating pumps by mechanism extended down the shafts. It also secures a greater economy than the use of steam-pumps in the mine supplied with steam conducted from outside the mine in pipes, for the reason that it affords an opportunity to use the most improved and economical engines, boilers, and pumps, at a cost far below that of the Cornish engines, while operating with equal efiiciency.

My apparatus also operates more economically, both in its wear upon the plant employed and in the cost of operation, than the reciprocating devices heretofore used, because the flow of water propelled by rotary devices is practically continuous, and thus avoids all the jars and concussions occasioned in the waterpipes by intermittent movements.- Such a flow also secures a saving in the power employed, as the momentum or inertia of water strongly resists any changes in its velocity. The sucmo herein.

pump the most effective for use down in the water therefrom, and F an overflow-pipe disthe inlet of the motor at e, and the pipe D tion to the lowest point.

tion-pipe also lifts the water more favorably I from the cistern or basin in the mine, as there is no sudden or intermittent suction excited to disturb thewater and its sediment. Although I have referred to a rotary pump as the primary mover of the water-column, it is evident that any means may be employed which will operate most economically, and I do not therefore limit myself to the use of a rotary prime mover. As compound engines are now usedwith great efficiency to produce a constant flow of water by means of duplex pumps, I have shown the same herein, as being the most economical for the prime mover, while I consider the rotary motor and rotary drainagemine for the reasons stated above.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the works located above the ground near a mine-shaft, with a section of the latter, containing my combined motor and pump, with its connections. Fig. 2 is a section through the motor and pump on line w w in Fig. 1, and Fig.3 is a central section of the same on line y y in Fig. 2. g

A is the primary force-pump, which I shall call a pressure-generator or generator B is the motor; 0, its inlet-pipe; D, its outlet-pipe; E, a receptacle or tank receiving the charging to any lower level.

The generator isrepresented with pump-cylinder a and compound steam-cylinders b c, the pipe 0 leading from the pump-delivery d to leading from the outlet of the motor at fto the top of the tank E.

G is the suction-pipe of the generator, and is connected to the bottom of the tank.

The boilers for operating the steam-engine cylinders b c are not shown, as they may be of any desired character.

In Fig. 2 is shown one form of rotaryengine or pump to illustrate the mode in which Iconibine a pump and motor so as to balance the pressures uponthe axis and reduce the fric- The rotary pistons are shown as formed with uniform cogs at equal intervals, and are equivalent to the H01- ley rotary engines and pumps, of slightly different construction, whose mode of operation is well known. Two such pistons, b, are arranged in the casing upon axles m, and the casing is formed with partitions n a, (see Fig. 2,) transverse to the axles, at such distances from the heads h as to form three chambers, i, i, andj, the latter being twice as large as the former and located in the center between them. A pipe, 0, enters the central chamber and leads to it the water under pressure from the pipe 0, thus causing the pistons therein to rotate as a, motor with a force due to the pressure produced in the generator. The partitions an are formed with holes around the axles of such size that the pistons in the chambers t i may be formed integral with the central pistons or united thereto by collars 0, so that the rotation of the'motor will be imparted to the outer pistons tooperate them as pumps. Pipes 1 l are connected to the outer chambers, 11, and united in a single suction-tube, H. Dischargepipes 19 p are also connected with thechambers upon the opposite side, and are shown joined to the delivery-pipe f, so that the pistons in the chambers t i may operate to draw any water supplied to the pipeHandforce it into the outlet-pipe of the motor, whence it is conveyed to the tank or otherwise carried from the mine.

In cases where the suction-pipe H draws its water from a clean spring or well, the constructionshown for the three pipesp and fis quite suitable; but it the water raised by pipe H is unfit to enter the pressure-generator cylinder a, the pipesp would require to be united and conducted away from the tank E, so that the water therein might be adapted for constant use in operating the motor without injury to its working parts.

The form of the pistons b may be modified as desired; but some form analagous to that shown avoids the use of external gearing to keep the pistons in'proper relative positions, and the necessity for stuffing-boxes on the axles when such gearingis used. As shown in Fig. 2, the shell of the casing is cast in halves with the partitions in it, and joined by flanges g at the center line, being bored out by suitable tools to fit the pistons. The application of heads m at the ends then makes the casin g complete, and without any moving parts upon its exterior to suffer derangement.

If desired, the axle m can be projected through one of the heads, as shown at k, and formed with a square end for turning the pistons around when obstructed, the end being protected by a cap, g, secured over the end It by a screw-thread, 9. With the motor-piston arranged between two pumping-pistons, as shown, it will be found that the precise up ward pressure exerted upon the axle m by the generator is balanced by the downward pressure upon the pumping-pistons exerted by the weight of water discharged from pipes 10. The pressure of the water in pipes e and f being exerted upon opposite sides of the motor-piston-one above and the otherbelow-no thrust is produced upon the axle, and all tendency in the pistons to wear out of center is entirely prevented.

From the above statement it is plain that various means may be devised to operate according to my described method, which con sists essentially in forcing a balanced column of water by means of a generator through a rotary motor back to a tank at the level of the generator.

By my mode of operation the transmitter B can be located in the mine at any convenient point and readily connected by the required pipes; and a number of such. transmitters may be situated at different points upon the same vein and actuated by connection to the same labor of attendanceat one spot outside the mine, and locating the working machinery in p the most favorable situation for access.

As the connection of several motors, in the manner described, is rendered possible by the substitution of rotary motors for the reciprocating ones heretofore employed, and the use of a tank to compensate for leakage and other variations in place of the synchronous movements attempted heretofore, it will be seen that my improved method consists in operatin g such pumps in connection with a tank, that the latter may serve to compensate for the lack of the other features heretofore combined with reciprocating pumps to fit them for operating automatically with water-pressure.

I am aware that a rotating motor has been arranged, as in Patent No. 220,108,dated September 30, 1879, to carry without any external bearings a rotary fan or pump at each side of it, and I do not therefore claim the combination of a motor and two pumps, broadly; but

.- as my transmitter has a bearing in the head h, outside of the pumping-pistons, it is evidently a different construction from that patented above; and thedilference is further noticeable in the fact that the casing is expressly intended to include all the operative parts, and to cover and protect them in situations where they are much exposed to water, dirt, and accident, and which the said patented device would not be so well adapted to resist with construction so difierent from mine. In case the water pumped up by the transmitter is hot suitable to use in the generator, it would not be thrown into the tank at all, but delivered elsewhere, and the loss byleakage and other oausesin the balanced column would be made up by supplying the tank with clean water from independent sources from time to time,as required.

Having thus described myinvention, [claim the same, as follows:

1. In combination with the force-pump A,

. motor B, and inlet and delivery pipes O D, op-

WM. BAXTER.

Witnesses:

THOS. S. CRANE, E. E. ROBERTS. 

